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Saturday, January 10, 2009

Redemption for Bears

On December 13th the Hershey Bears traveled to Houston to face the Aeros after a uninspiring effort against San Antonio. What they got that night was a very physical game and a 6-1 beating.

Last night in Hershey the Aeros came to visit after losing in a shootout the night before. What they got was pretty much an old fashioned beat down from a very fired up Bears team.

Hershey won 5-1 with goals from Oskar Osala (18th), Alexandre Giroux (25th), Andrew Gordon (12th), Andrew Joudrey (4th), and Francois Bouchard (11th). For a short time the game was 3-1 but it was never in question.

The physical play started early and picked up late. In the first 10 minutes of the game there were 3 fights and 38 penalty minutes between the two teams. Overall there 5 fights and 96 penalty minutes in the game.

The third period was especially physical for a short time when an Aeros player took a shot in open ice on Keith Aucoin and Graham Mink when absolutely nuts. After grabbing the player and knocking him to the ice Mink went to work on him and just pounded on him for a solid minute while the linesmen tried to pull him off. At the same time Alexandre Giroux and an Aeros player tried to help their respective teammates and were given 10 minute misconduct penalties for interfering in a fight.

Surprisingly Mink was not given more than a fighting major and a couple minor penalties as I thought he might get a misconduct penalty as well. Even more surprising was that the Aeros player also got a penalty for fighting even though I don't think he ever dropped his gloves OR threw a punch.

Either way it was a solid job of sticking up for a teammate by the Minker!

But you know what....it would have been nice to see Kip Brennan on the ice to go at it.

My Three Stars of the Game:

Chris Bourque - he only had an assist but he played great hockey and both ends

Andrew Joudrey - a goal and an assist and an all around very good game

Andrew Gordon - a goal and an assist and he even tried to throw his weight around

Grading the Performance:

Offense - A - 5 goals and 30 shots was very impressive. This game was never in doubt and the Bears almost had many other goals. Goalie Barry Brust made some big saves for Houston or the game might have been 10-1.

Defense - B - For most of the game it was a very solid game for the D. But for the first half of the second period they came out and watched Houston move the puck around. They had some big hits and really made some nice plays but the first half of the 2nd period made this grade a B.

Goaltending - A - Varly played goal and he played it well. If it wasn't for the goaltending at times this game might have been closer. The defense did help him by blocking shots but Varly had to throw himself all around the crease to stop some shots and rebounds though.

Power Play - B - Only 3 chances and no goals but there was consistent pressure and many very good chances. But at times they tried to get too cute with passes right through the defense.

Penalty Kill - B - Their one goal came on the power play at the end of the 2nd period. But the other 5 chances didn't go anywhere. And Giroux's goal came shorthanded when he made Brust look silly in goal.

Overall - B+ - A couple minor problems but for the most part an excellent game for the entire team. They came in wanting to get revenge for the game they played in Houston last month and I think they achieved that goal.